While most athletes doing well on the JWT have race, mogul, or other types of ski coaching behind them, 16-year old Drew Petersen came up skiing with his brother. “Drew was just a local shredding kid until he joined the big mountain team at the start of last season,” says Van Nuys. He’s been blowing the doors off of the junior scene since he arrived at Crested Butte for his first competition hoping to at least make the finals. He ended up with a second place finish.

“Growing up here makes us fundamentally strong skiers,” Petersen says. “If you are hitting cliffs in technical terrain, you have to stomp the landing. Because we ski on steep terrain and hit airs to hardpack we are comfortable once we get into bigger terrain,” he says, lauding the very things that most skiers think they want to avoid.

He has set goals far beyond that of his first comp, including winning the overall JWT title, and moving on to the FWT. Plus, he has his eyes on coveted awards like the Sickbird and the North Face Young Gun, and to film with major companies.